Levi's Stadium a shining achievement for 49ers CEO

For the past 30 months, the structure has risen steadily outside Jed York's office. What was first an elusive goal, and then a far-fetched idea, became a design, a ballot measure, and finally, a tangible, enormous steel and concrete structure: Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara.

By shepherding the process along to reality, the 49ers' president and CEO has followed in his family's footsteps. The Edward J. DeBartolo fortune that his mother, Denise, partially inherited, came from his grandfather's post-World War II prowess in the development of shopping malls and other large-scale projects.

"I don't know that real estate development is hereditary," York, 33, said recently. "But to me, there's nothing like building something physically, something that you can see and touch. You get a special sensation from that."

It took York - the eldest grandson of the patriarch, the nephew of the venerated former owner, the first-born of the active owners - to realize what the 49ers had unsuccessfully sought for more than three decades: the construction of a state-of-the-art football stadium.

"I think my dad would be very proud of him," said his uncle, Eddie DeBartolo Jr.

But to achieve the goal, the 49ers had to make the controversial decision to leave the city of their birth and name, moving 50 miles south to Santa Clara.

'Tough call'

"In 2006, we had to make the tough call," York said. "Do you keep working on something that may never come to fruition? Or do you build something that might not be in the city of San Francisco, but is in the Bay Area, and is something our fans can enjoy and be a part of?"

Such a move was something York's uncle never considered. Before he was forced to cede control of the team due to his legal troubles in 1999, DeBartolo had plans to build a stadium at Candlestick Point. DeBartolo believes that if he had remained owner, the plan approved by San Francisco voters in 1997 would have led to a new stadium within San Francisco city limits.

"Of course there would be a stadium there," said DeBartolo, who plans to visit Levi's for one of the early regular-season games. "But it wouldn't be anywhere near as high-tech. It would have had a retail component. This stadium, from everything I hear, is the pre-eminent building in the league."

A decade ago, negotiations with San Francisco stalled. The team became one of the worst in the league. Denise DeBartolo York and her husband, John, failed to win fans' confidence or trust with their clumsy management of the team. When John York announced in 2005 that the team would be moving to Santa Clara, there was no faith that it was anything other than one more misguided twist.

Into the void stepped Jed, first grandson of Edward DeBartolo Sr., then a baby-faced 25-year-old recent graduate of Notre Dame. He didn't inspire a lot of confidence at first, but Jed took command of the stadium project and, as he moved up the 49ers corporate ladder, he grew into a leadership role.

York was born in Youngstown, Ohio, in 1981, the season of the 49ers first Super Bowl victory. He attended his first NFL game when he was 3, falling asleep on Jennifer Montana's lap, rather than watching her husband, Joe, quarterback the team to victory.

High-profile family

York's family was among the most high-profile residents of their northern Ohio town. When York was in second grade, St. Charles elementary school hosted a Super Bowl rally for the 49ers. At Cardinal Mooney High School, York was student body president.

He followed his father and grandfather to Notre Dame. He worked for two years in New York at Guggenheim Partners, a financial services firm, to gain experience in another field.

The expectation was always that he would work for the 49ers, and when he joined the team in 2005, York's parents forced him to rotate through every department, learning how everything worked.

"That was not something I was excited to do," York said. "But my dad said, 'This is the only way I'm going to allow you to work for the team.' And I'm really thankful he forced me to do that. It allowed me to have a working relationship with everyone in the building and to truly understand what every department does."

From the start, the stadium issue was York's primary focus. But by 2009, when he took over as president, it was already clear that he was running the team. He was the only member of the family present to announce that head coach Mike Nolan had been fired during the 2008 season and replaced by Mike Singletary.

York helped lead the campaign for a successful stadium ballot measure in Santa Clara in 2010. When Singletary didn't work out, York wooed and hired Jim Harbaugh away from Stanford in 2011. His team went to the Super Bowl after the 2012 season. He was growing into a successful leader.

"He struggled with it a little bit at first," said DeBartolo, who was only 31 when he became owner of the 49ers. "But he has rebounded great. He's put things in the hands of people who know what they're doing. He takes their advice and weighs it and then makes the decisions. He's done a remarkable job for his age."

One of those who York turns to for advice is his uncle. His public deference to DeBartolo's achievements and reliance on his guidance has helped heal a rift that existed for several years after DeBartolo was forced to hand over control of the 49ers to his sister in 1999 after pleading guilty to failing to report a felony in the corruption case involving former Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards.

Comfortable manner

York hasn't gone out of his way to be a different kind of owner than his parents, who were clearly uncomfortable in the spotlight and frequently defensive about their leadership skills. York naturally has an easy, comfortable manner; he doesn't gloat about his successes or lash out at critics. He will confidently make bets (for dinner at the French Laundry, no less) with reporters and coolly collect when the time comes.

"I never put pressure on myself to be something they're not, or that I'm not," he said. "But I certainly couldn't be where I am today if my parents weren't there as co-chairmen. It's a perfect role for them and they've been a great guiding force for me."

As York has grown into his role as the 49ers leader, he has also grown as a man. In 2011, he married Danielle Belluomini, a San Bruno native who taught science at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in San Francisco's Excelsior district. The two met through mutual friends when both were living in the Marina. In 2012, about six months after the stadium groundbreaking, the couple welcomed a son, Jaxon Edward.

York says becoming a father has helped give him a perspective on football. In the tradition of his hot-tempered uncle, York used to throw water bottles and watch them explode during a loss. Now he's calmer, even during the 49ers agonizing season-ending losses.

"Since my son's birth, I haven't done that as much," York said. "He takes my mind off it. I realize I have to appreciate it. We had such a long time of not being there, in playoff games. You need to soak it in and enjoy these moments."

At the ribbon-cutting ceremony for Levi's Stadium, York took the stage in uncharacteristically flashy style, entering to Coldplay's "Viva la Vida."

"I used to rule the world, seas would rise when I gave the word ... the crowd would sing 'now the old king is dead, long live the king.' "

The new king got a little choked up when he talked about experiencing games at the stadium with little Jax. But, for the most part, York has put aside sentiment and awe over his stadium accomplishment.

"It's hard to get caught up in the 'Wow' of it," he said. "Now it's built, but it's only as good as the operations are. My biggest concern is how do you get thousands of people working together smoothly?"

First-game glitches

York attended the Aug. 2 soccer game between the San Jose Earthquakes and Seattle Sounders, the first sporting event at the stadium. While he had a great experience, he acknowledged that there were first-game glitches with traffic, directional signs and concession lines.

"There are things we need to learn from and figure out how to keep getting better," he said. "We want to be up-front about the things that didn't go well."

His favorite place in the stadium is the green roof - a garden and outdoor area atop the suite tower, with 49 solar panels that help power the stadium, 16 species of plants, and reclaimed redwood from nearby Moffett Field.

"It's a very Northern California feel," York said. "A feel of being outdoors, being open, tech-friendly and environmentally friendly. I think that's going to be a very cool spot."

Stadium tour guides have touted that on an extremely clear day, the rooftop views include the very distant outline of the San Francisco skyline far to the north.

The city the 49ers, under York's leadership, left behind.

"I can't change the opinions of people who feel like we packed up Mayflower trucks in the night and moved to Santa Clara," York said. "I don't think that's what we did.

"We tried to do what's best for the organization, and we think most of our fans can still make it to the stadium 10 Sundays a year."